Heart warmers

As Winter's icy embrace wraps itself around us, some counteractive soul-warming activities need to be had, and what better way to combat the cold than by enjoying some fine lifestyle activities. We bring you a variety of options from culinary indulgences such as a review of the gastronomically delightful Taste of Cape Town, to thought-provoking theatre productions like Doodsnikke and The Line, to cuddly feel-good movies The Pirates and Mirror Mirror.

Motoring

[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] For a cloning exercise to be successful it has to create something which is at least as good, or better, than the original - and Kia has just shown that it can be done with remarkable success when they unwrapped the new Kia Optima in South Africa. Read more >>

Travel

[Brian Berkman: contributing editor, travel] A bespoke travel company with high-end clients, Giltedge Incentives is part of the Giltedge group of companies with over 50 staff members across the various divisions. These include Giltedge International (corporate travel), Giltedge Africa (inbound leisure travel), Giltedge Golf & Sport travel and Giltedge Destination Management (inbound MICE). Read more >>

Movies

[Eugene Yiga] Survivor. Big Brother. The Amazing Race. There's only so much action we can expect from these and the smorgasbord of other reality TV shows. And so, as was the case in 2011's Real Steel, society of the future has taken the concept one step further. Introducing the Hunger Games, an annual contest in which 24 boys and girls fight to the death until only one is left. A question more pertinent than asking who will survive is asking if you the viewer can survive long enough to find out. Read more >>

[Daniel Dercksen] If fairy tales and the world of make believe are enchanting, Mirror Mirror is beyond enchantment in an adorable, huggable kind of way. It is the kind of film you want to put in your pocket and take home with you to open like a music box and revisit its charm. Read more >>

Music

American group Naturally 7 has been announced as the opening act for Michael Bublé's South African tour, which is at the Grand Arena, Grand West Casino, Cape Town on 1,2 and 3 May and the Superbowl, Sun City on 5 and 6 May, 2012. Read more >>

Other

[Jana van Heerden] Lumberjacking is one of those super-manly professions that helps advertisers to sell shaving cream and other masculine paraphernalia. They wear flannel shirts strategically unbuttoned to show some chest hair and occasionally even chop wood. Now I have been to many festivals around our fair country, including even a Sandstone Festival, and with my limited and - I admit - possibly stereotypical image of a lumberjack, it made perfect sense to throw a festival in honour of this outstanding vocation. Read more >>

Theatre

[Daniel Dercksen] Make sure to see Line, now playing for a short run until 28 April at the Little Theatre, Cape Town. Once you cross the threshold there's no turning back as you spiral into the wonderfully bizarre absurdist world of playwright Israel Horovitz, whose play Line has been entertaining New Yorkers since 1967 and now makes its bow in Cape Town. Read more >>

[Johann Smith] The American dream described by Hunter S Thompson, existed in 1960s' San Francisco and as being special time in the corner of the world, that whatever it meant, there was madness in every direction, at any hour. That you could strike sparks anywhere. That there was a fantastic sense that whatever we were doing was right. That inevitable sense of victory over the forces of old and evil -our energy would simply and always prevail. Read more >>

The Road Freight Association (RFA) has filed papers in the Pretoria High Court in an attempt to join the legal proceedings against the implementation of e-tolling in Gauteng, scheduled for April 30. Read more >>